Monarch
by HimekoChanSan
Summary: When Watanuki is chosen to be the new patron deity of butterflies Doumeki must travel to the spirit world in order to free him before he is trapped there forever. But once Jorogumo, the Spider Queen, hears of this she is reminded of her taste for butterfly...This is an EveryonexWatanuki story but the most prominent pairing is DouWata.
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys, Himeko here. Another month another story! Like last months Blue Exorcist fic this one will probably contain super ukes, daring rescues, and copious amounts of mind control and or manipulation. If you're into that then great! This is the story for you! If not, best click back and find something a bit nicer! With that said I hope you enjoy the first installment of _**Monarch**_, see you at Chapter 2!

* * *

_"Election"_

"I want shogayaki and kinpira gobo in tomorrows bento."

"You'll get what I give you and like it!"

Watanuki and Doumeki were walking home from school, engaging in their usual back and forth. It was early October and the street homaged the season with a show of black bracken and orange leaves, a dry sky of crimped clouds and a gentle cool wind.

"Don't forget the croquettes." Doumeki added.

"I'm not making you any damn croquettes, you jerk!" Watanuki fumed, flailing about doggedly and baring his teeth. Doumeki just continued walking, ignoring the entire rage-fit. He had to keep walking anyway, in order to hide a tiny smile.

"Hey! Don't walk away from me when I'm yelling at you!" Watanuki went to stomp after him but something orange flitted in front of his face. "Ah! A butterfly."

It bounced through the air and landed on a twisted piece of dead sakura which had clawed its way over a stone wall. It was absolutely beautiful. It's wings were as vibrant as flames, segmented by black lines which streaked into the most elaborate of patterns. It settled on the bracken, fanning its wings slowly.

He watched it curiously, aware that the season for butterflies was over.

It was quite large, Watanuki noticed, seeming almost imperial in size. Working in Yuuko's shop he was surrounded by butterfly themed decor, and had developed a little affinity for them himself.

He considered it for a moment.

_This one is...a Monarch Butterfly!_

"Oi."

Doumeki had noticed Watanuki missing and back tracked to find him. He was now standing a few feet away, looking at the young seer expectantly.

"Are you thinking about what you're going to make me for dinner?"

This incensed Watanuki once again. "No, you idiot! I was just looking at the butterfly over there and thinking how much I would love to cook dinner for it instead of you!"

"What butterfly?"

Watanuki pointed a finger towards the spot on the wall where the Monarch rested, and Doumeki followed it with his eyes.

"I don't see anything." he said flatly.

"What do you mean you don't see anything? It's right there! It's bright orange, you big oaf!" Watanuki emphasised the point by repeatedly stabbing a finger in the direction of the butterfly.

Doumeki stared for another moment, before raising his palm. He blocked sight from his normal eye, leaving clear the eye that half belonged to Watanuki.

"I can see it now," he said. "but only through your eye."

"Then that means..."

The butterfly was not of this world.

Watanuki turned back to it and when he looked straight at it a sudden spiritual pang pulsed in his head. It vibrated through his mind and resonated down his body with the same force of someone striking a bell with a hammer. It had been a pleasurable sensation, like an affectionate greeting or a naughty whisper. It caused a sudden blush to heat up his cheeks, and Watanuki hugged himself in fright feeling oddly violated.

"_Ah~! _W-What was that...?"

Doumeki watched him carefully, noting the colour in his face and the way he was holding himself and trembling.

"Oi." he said, wariness bleeding into his tone.

Watanuki snapped too, devolving into frantic flailing yet again. "Argh! My name is not 'Oi'! How many times do I have to tell you?!"

Doumeki sighed, "I guess you're fine then."

"Of course I'm fine! Now, I'm not making you any food unless you ask me nicely and call me 'Watanuki-Sama'!"

The two carried on towards their respective homes, having sensed no hostility from the spirit, continuing their usual lively banter.

Watanuki did glance back at the wall but by the time he did the butterfly was gone.

* * *

The next day Watanuki sat with Doumeki and Himawari having lunch in the cafeteria. Doumeki, because he knew it would aggravate Watanuki, chewed noisily on his home-made bento of shogayaki and kinpira gobo.

"Can you be any louder?" Watanuki barked. "We're sitting with a girl! Think of poor Himawari-Chan and chew properly!"

"Oh, no, it's fine Watanuki-Kun, honest." Himawari said, smiling.

"See." Doumeki said flatly.

Watanuki growled and bared his teeth, several veins popping in his head.

"I heard there's a new student joining class 2-B after lunch."

The trio overheard a group of girls giggling nearby them.

"I've heard he's really hot!" said one, making the others squeal in agreement.

"Class 2-B," Himawari said. "he'll be with us then."

"Hn." Doumeki grunted.

"I hope he is cute!" she beamed.

"You're too good for him no matter how attractive he is, Himawari-Chan..." Watanuki sobbed quietly into his own bento, completely deflated by her perpetual interest in other boys.

* * *

The class was a buzz with excited chatter after lunch as everyone speculated as to what the new student would be like. Watanuki, Doumeki and Himawari sat in a L shape, with Watanuki and Doumeki's desks side by side, and Himawari's in front of Doumeki's. There was one seat free on the other side of Watanuki, the last seat before the window, and it was everyone's bet that was the seat for the new student. Watanuki was beginning to get quite anxious of their arrival. He wasn't very good at talking to people, especially not other classmates.

_Be nice. Smile. Don't be rude. Offer to help them with finding their classes. _

His heart was pounding.

He wanted at least someone in this school, excluding Doumeki and Himawari of course, to think that he was normal.

"Settle down class." The teacher strode in, a young man behind him.

"We have a new student joining us. Please do your best to make him feel welcome."

"My name is Cho Kokatsu," he spoke with a deep and sonorous voice that had a nasal twang. "it's a pleasure to meet you all." It was the kind of voice that was half power, half pleasure.

Cho's appearance was also striking. He was tall with good wide shoulders and spiky black hair. There was a plain black choker around his throat. Scanning the class his fiery amber eyes, Cho settled on Watanuki when he found him, and slyly smiled.

Watanuki fidgeted uncomfortably, eventually shrinking under the prolonged stare. He dipped his head to hide his eyes when he felt his cheeks heating up with embarrassment. Cho smirked in amusement as Watanuki squirmed beneath his gaze. Doumeki warily watched the whole exchange, wondering if perhaps Cho was picking Watanuki out as a bullying target. He wouldn't put it past some of the guys from the other classes, to whom Watanuki was their favourite target of ridicule. There was something else amiss about the new student too, Doumeki noticed...something that itched at the edges of his own spiritual sensitivity.

"There's a seat free there - by the window, Cho. Take that one." The teacher said.

Cho nodded, and sat down. Glancing over at Watanuki, he smiled again and looked him up and down languidly as the teacher began the class.

"Hey." Cho said, startling Watanuki stiff.

_Be nice. Smile. Don't be rude. Offer to help them with finding their classes. _Watanuki reminded himself, and swallowed.

He met the new student's blazing orange eyes and offered him a gentle, welcoming smile. "Hello, I'm Watanuki Kimihiro. Anything you need please don't be afraid to ask, Kokatsu-Kun."

Cho's grin got considerably wider. "Call me Cho, please. Thank you, Watanuki. I'll be sure to do that."

Watanuki beamed.

_This guy had seemed so scary at first, _Watanuki thought. _But he is actually kind of friendly!_

He was so relieved. For the rest of the lesson whenever they happened to match glances, Watanuki would smile and Cho would grin and return it.

Though, oddly...Watanuki found that whenever he did so happen to glance at Cho...he was already looking at him.

* * *

An hour passed and the bell rang, ending the lesson. Cho stood and approached Watanuki's desk. Doumeki and Himawari did the same from the other side, Himawari looked anxious but Doumeki's expression was as unreadable as always.

"Are you coming, Watanuki-Kun? We have Math next." Himawari said.

"Ah, yes!" Watanuki pushed his chair back and stood, picking up his satchel.

"Actually," Cho interrupted, laying a hand on Watanuki's shoulder. "Watanuki said he would show me to my next class," His grip tightened. "isn't that right?"

Watanuki went quiet. His eyes became glassy and dropped to half mast, and when he finally spoke his voice was low and lethargic: "Ah, yes. That's right."

Cho smiled at Doumeki and Himawari as he led Watanuki past them and out of the classroom, never taking his hand off his shoulder the entire time.

"That was strange." Himawari said once they were alone. "You don't suppose..."

Doumeki didn't suppose anything, his mind remained level, rational, but wary. He decided to keep a close eye on this new student, and an even closer eye on the vulnerable seer.

_I won't let it be like last time..._

He vowed, reminded of how he hadn't been there to stop Watanuki falling from the window.

_...This time I'll act before it's too late._

* * *

Cho led Watanuki around the corner and pulled him into the boys bathroom. With the next set of lessons beginning the place quickly emptied, leaving them alone amongst polished white tiles and the bright overhead lights. Cho leant against the sinks, a mirrored wall behind him, and pulled Watanuki almost flush against him.

Cho grinned and released Watanuki's wrists. This broken contact seemed to wake him up, as once he noticed their predicament, Watanuki's face went as red as a tomato and he flailed around in his usual way.

"Eh?" He exclaimed, jumping back to put some distance between them. "What-What are we doing in here?"

"I just wanted to talk to you." Cho said. "Alone."

Watanuki tried to calm his raging heart. It was pounding with fear, and confusion and anticipation.

"O-Oh, I-I see." he stammered, shrinking again under Cho's powerful gaze. "W-What about?"

_"Spirits."_


	2. Chapter 2

_"Inheritance"_

At the other end of the school, in a crowded Maths classroom, Doumeki's vision suddenly split-screened.

He jerked in alarm at the jarring sensation and disorientating double view he now possessed. Thankfully, his lifetime of emotional discipline made sure he didn't react in a way which would alert the rest of the class. They carried on oblivious to the fact Doumeki was currently receiving the half-image of Watanuki facing his own reflection, half his face in the mirror blocked by Cho's as he stared back at Watanuki, smiling. Doumeki didn't like that smile. It was predatory.

Their mouths moved but Doumeki couldn't discern what was being said, the only assumption he could come to was that Watanuki was in a state of high emotion - for their shared eye to activate on its own signalled a flux in Watanuki's spiritual energy. And he looked fearful, as if an awful secret had just been uncovered.

As Cho's mouth closed to end another sentence Watanuki seemed to start, then look away quickly - now all Doumeki could see was the edge of the sink. He had managed to make out the fierce blush that dashed across Watanuki's face before he had shifted his gaze, though.

_A confession? _Doumeki wondered.

When Watanuki faced the mirror again Cho's face was suddenly very close. He was speaking again - his lips were closing in, his eyes were lusty. Doumeki watched in silent grief as Watanuki's eyes dropped shut, presumably, as he was kissed.

That did it. That was enough to break a lifetime of restraint. Doumeki shot up from his chair, startling everyone else in the class.

"I'm going to the bathroom." he announced, quickly exiting the classroom before his teacher had the opportunity to stop him or anyone could call him out on his behaviour. He didn't know what bathroom Watanuki and Cho were currently making out in but he sure as hell was going to check them all.

* * *

Back in the boys room Watanuki pushed Cho away with a force he didn't know he could expel. Gasping - affronted and embarrassed Watanuki slapped the new student hard across the face. The sound rang out in the empty tiled room.

"Wha-What do you think you're doing?" he stammered out, his face on fire and his hand stinging from the smarting impact of flesh on flesh. A body wide tremble was making it hard for him to maintain his illusion of strength.

Cho's momentary look of surprise at the slap quickly curled into a truly amused smirk. He faced Watanuki once more, a ripe red hand print forming across one cheek.

"Do you not understand what I just told you?" Cho gripped Watanuki's shoulders and spun him around so he was the one forced back against the sinks. He wrestled Cho's grip but in the end his arms were pinned securely against the cool glass of the mirror behind him. "Hey, now!" Cho laughed at Watanuki's feeble attempt to fight back. "You'll hurt yourself!"

He kissed him again, and like before Watanuki squeezed his eyes shut and hummed vehemently in protest, twisting in Cho's iron grip.

Cho broke the kiss with a wet impatient pop.

"Stop resisting. Hurry up and accept my power before your stupid Spirit Repeller shows up."

He gave Watanuki a moment to catch his breath before capturing his mouth once more.

_Spirit Repeller?_ Watanuki questioned.

Cho forced his tongue in and utterly quashed the seer's slowing attempts to push him away with a series of soft sucks and hard bites.

_...Doumeki!_

He was being invaded by a foreign spiritual energy, it suffused his every cell, latching on like a parasite. In the brief disengages of their mouths Watanuki pushed out some desperate words.

"Dou...mmgh...ki! H-Hel-mmm!"

Overcome by the sensations and the infiltrating magic Cho was slowly feeding into his body, Watanuki curled his hands into fists against the glass, powerless to do anything about the light which was slowly spreading across his skin. It covered him, illuminating, and then faded out like a dying light bulb.

Cho finally released his mouth with a satisfied sigh. "Ah, yes. You are a good fit, Watanuki Kimihiro."

Watanuki shivered. "I feel strange, what... what have you done?" he clutched his head as spots swam in his vision.

Cho chuckled softly, taking Watanuki's jaw in his hand and pressing their foreheads together. Then, in a commanding hypnotic voice Cho spoke.

"Listen to your body, eat, fast, sleep. Do what your instincts tell you. I'll see you again when you are ready to inherit my domain. Until then, you will forget my plans for you. Understood?"

Watanuki's eyes dulled and fell to half mast, "Yes." he answered, inexplicably unable to disobey.

Cho smiled and stepped back, "Good." he said. And with that he vanished in the blink of an eye. In his place was a curiously large Monarch butterfly which quickly flew up and out of the nearest window.

* * *

**"Watanuki!" **

Doumeki burst through the door, out of breath and with an urgency in his voice that suggested he was running out of bathrooms to check.

Watanuki started as if woken in the night by a loud and distant bang.

"Doumeki? What are you doing here?"

"The eye we share showed me that you were in trouble." Doumeki crossed the room, scanning the open and empty stalls. "Where's Cho?"

Watanuki searched his own mind for the answer to that question but it came up blank. "Trouble? What trouble? Cho's not here. I've not seen him since the last class. What on earth are you talking about?"

"You left with him." Doumeki corrected, firmly.

"No, I-" Watanuki went to take a step forward but found he was still woozy and had to grip the edge of the sink for support. "Ugh,"

His forehead was ablaze with fevered heat, as if he had just walked through flames, or been engaged in some steamy sordid affair...

Doumeki stepped forward to steady him. He put a hand to his forehead, abandoning his interrogation for now.

"You're hot. Are you okay?"

"Doumeki..." Watanuki looked him straight in the face, paused, and then exclaimed in complete seriousness: "_I'm starving!"_


	3. Chapter 3

_"Incubation"_

**Day 1**

Watanuki came to school with three jumbo bento boxes the next day.

Doumeki and Himawari watched with slack jaws as the svelte seer devoured his entire bento in only a few minutes. Then he motioned to Himawari's half eaten one with his chopsticks and with a mouthful of rice asked: "Are you going to finish that?"

She shook her head and pushed it towards him. Watanuki took it and began ravenously gobbling up all of the remaining contents. He had been inexplicably consumed by the desire to stuff himself since Doumeki had found him the previous day.

Doumeki's expression had remained stuck in the same frown of consternation since then, too. He watched Watanuki guzzling knowing that it was not normal and wishing Watanuki was as worried as he was. He had nearly asked about Watanuki's conversation with Cho, and the - what he believed to be - kiss that the two of them shared but Watanuki seemed to have no recollection of any events in between leaving the classroom and Doumeki finding him a half hour later. So the endeavour seemed pointless. It would no doubt inspire an aggressive rant, anyway. Watanuki would be mortified if he thought Doumeki was snooping on his private moments, and he would no doubt push the archer away. Doumeki didn't need that right now. He needed to remain close to the seer, to keep him safe, until he could figure out what was going on.

"You should see Yuuko." he said finally.

Watanuki didn't stop eating but he did look up from the bento box to glare at Doumeki. "What for? She's given me the week off."

Doumeki sighed and folded his arms.

"Uh, Watanuki-Kun," Himawari tried instead. "It's just that...well...You were behaving strangely yesterday and now...this..."

"What?" he said through a huge mouthful.

The two friends exchanged looks. They both sighed and shook their heads. "Nevermind."

* * *

**Day 2**

The next day Doumeki found Watanuki in an empty classroom with his head pillowed in his arms.

"Oi." he said.

"My names not 'Oi'." Watanuki responded. He was decidedly less cheerful today and seemed grouchy. The very fact that he hadn't leapt up and shaken Doumeki by the collar for calling him 'Oi' sent off alarm bells.

"Are you alright?" Doumeki asked, his face looked a little peaky as if he had eaten too much and was now suffering for it.

Watanuki got to his feet. "Fine." he said starkly, and went to leave.

Doumeki caught his arm.

"Oi."

Watanuki pulled with no real conviction against his hand. He didn't say anything.

Doumeki opened his mouth to speak again but at that precise moment Cho walked by the open door of the classroom. His amber eyes flashed to Watanuki, an insidious, beckoning grin appearing on his face. He stopped and the two stared at each other as if exchanging a silent dialogue. Doumeki watched in jealousy and frustration.

The moment seemed to change Watanuki, he tore free of Doumeki's hand and glanced back at him with now heavy and misty eyes.

"I'll see you at lunch." he said, as though hypnotised.

Then he walked out to greet Cho, sliding the door shut behind him and leaving Doumeki to boil and seethe alone.

_Shit...!_

* * *

Cho led Watanuki to another secluded location in the school, making sure to maintain the physical contact which kept his control of the seer strong. He pulled him into the shadows of the stairwell just before the roof where students were prohibited from going.

"How have you been getting on?" Cho smiled, lifting Watanuki's chin with a single finger. He gazed into his face but Watanuki's expression remained blank and sedated. "Hmm," Cho mused. "Not quite there yet."

He had Watanuki place his hands on his shoulders and then Cho embraced him. He positioned his own hands at the small of Watanuki's back. He had such slim hips, Cho could practically touch thumbs when he bunched up Watanuki's uniform. He slipped both hands underneath Watanuki's shirt and slid them up to his shoulder blades, crossing at the wrists and groping the flesh - as if looking for something, like a surgeon feeling for a tumour.

They were flush against each other now and Watanuki was breathing in soft heated pants. His mind was still bewitched but his body was reacting to the touch. Cho smirked with amusement and arousal and he gripped Watanuki's shoulder blades hard enough to bruise.

"I wish I could see your face..." Cho burned a hot whisper into Watanuki's throat as he pulled down the collar of his shirt. "...when you finally get your wings."

* * *

Doumeki ran into Himawari in his search for Watanuki. He told her what happened and, after a quick look at the time, decided they might as well go to the canteen and let Watanuki come to them.

Sure enough, they hadn't been there five minutes when Watanuki walked in with a small smile and two regular sized bento boxes. He gave one to Himawari, and dropped the other gracelessly down in front of Doumeki.

"What about yours? Are you not having anything?" Himawari asked, a little pang of grief quieting her usually jubilant voice.

Watanuki smiled apologetically and waved his hand. "Oh, no. I'm not really hungry today. It's fine, Himawari-Chan. Dig in!"

"You did eat enough for a year yesterday." Doumeki chided, if only to test the reaction and not for humour.

Watanuki rounded on him, bubbling with his usual vigour. "What did you say, you big oaf? I'll have you know some of us are just trying to watch what they eat and be healthy! Not that you'd know anything about that! You great glutton!"

Himawari laughed and delicately patted her chopsticks against her lips. "You two are such good friends!"

Watanuki's jaw dropped. "I-It's not like that at all Himawari-Chan!" he moaned.

"Did you go and see Yuuko?" Doumeki asked, cutting through the light hearted atmosphere like a switchblade.

Watanuki blinked. "Oh, I forgot."

Doumeki's eye brows drew together in concern again.

"I'm just not hungry today. It's nothing." Watanuki defended, albeit softly.

Doumeki faced him. "What have you been doing for the last hour? Tell me." His eyes added a silent: if you can.

Watanuki recoiled, then thought. "I..." He thought harder. "I was..."

The last memory he had was of Doumeki gripping his arm in the classroom. He remembered it because lately whenever Doumeki had touched him his purifying energy has been stronger. As if Watanuki had been afflicted by something he hadn't been aware of until touched by someone who repelled it. He felt cleaner for a while after encounters with Doumeki. It was as if there was something sapping away parts of his spirit, like a parasite...

_Eat. Fast. Sleep._

Watanuki suddenly burst out of his seat.

What was that? A sonorous voice in his head, half power, half pleasure.

_Watanuki Kimihiro..._

Who did it belong to? Watanuki couldn't attach it to a face.

_Aah-hah...you are so delicious..._

Images came with the words now, dark and shadowy visions, deepened by lusty crimson shades. An indecernable pleasure pit where someone was groping his flesh, kissing his body...and he was enjoying it. From the ether of his mind sprung echoey cries and gasps of pleasure. His voice reached octaves he didn't know he could hit. And a rumbling thunderous laugh not belonging to him undercut it all.

Watanuki stood confused and scared and his arms shook from where they were braced on the table.

Doumeki and Himawari watched in frightened awe and nursed confusion of their own.

"Watanuki."

"I..." Watanuki cast Doumeki a venomless glare. "I don't have to tell you anything."

Then he picked up his satchel and left.

* * *

**Day 3**

Stubbornness makes fools of men.

Watanuki was awoken the next day by a incessant tapping at his window. He glanced over from where he lay and saw the shadow of a butterfly bobbing behind the thin curtains of his bedroom. He sighed, feeling like he hadn't slept at all even though that wasn't the case. He had went to bed exceptionally early last night, not even having the energy to make everyone's bentos. He still had no desire to eat, and now wanted nothing more than to roll over and go back to sleep.

_Listen to your body. _

Watanuki felt his eyes dropping closed.

_Do what your instincts tell you._

The pull of sleep was irresistible.

Just as the warm dark embrace of unconsciousness wrapped it's tendrils around him the jarring and unmercifully loud telephone began to ring. It startled Watanuki awake instantly and he gasped in fright.

Sitting up he reached over and lifted the receiver. It was Yuuko.

"Good Morning, Watanuki." Her velvet voice slid down the cord like melted chocolate. It did nothing but remind him of how tired he was.

"Yuuko-San, do you need me to come into the shop today?"

"No," she said. "I have a feeling you'll find your own way here anyway. I'm calling to tell you to go to school today. You were going to go back to sleep weren't you?"

Watanuki felt himself flush with embarrassment. "I wasn't! I was just...resting my eyes...It's creepy how you know these things, Yuuko-San."

She laughed, low and sultry. "I've sent Doumeki to pick you up."

"Whaaaat? Why, Yuuko-San? Are you punishing me for taking a week off? You gave me the week off!"

Watanuki heard a rap at his front door.

"That'll be your escort." Yuuko said, and he could hear the smirk in her voice. "Just think of it like a date!"

Watanuki nearly died right then and there! "A WHAAAT?" he bellowed down the phone, only to find that Yuuko had already hung up.

The knocking at the door was becoming more impatient. Begrudgingly, Watanuki got up and went to answer the door in his pjs.

"Yo."

Doumeki stood unassumingly on the landing, and Watanuki gnashed his teeth in directionless frustration.

"You should get dressed."

Watanuki erupted like an angry japanese volcano and flailed around in abject wordless rage. Doumeki plugged his ears and turned away as per usual. That was until Watanuki's rant suddenly cut off midstream and he seemed to quake with sudden loss of strength.

He clutched the doorframe as his knees buckled suddenly, managing to hold himself up.

"Oi!" Doumeki caught his arm as soon as he saw Watanuki sinking against the doorframe. "Watanuki!"

"Aah...haah..." Watanuki's breath came in startled pants as he leaned on the doorframe for support and pushed himself upright again.

"I-I'm fine, I just suddenly...felt kind of faint..."

Doumeki let his grip go slack as he watched his friend with unease and fear. Yuuko hadn't told him what was going to happen, only that it was crucial for him to stay by Watanuki's side today.

"It's your fault for making me lose my temper so early in the morning!" Watanuki barked without any bite to his words, turning around and stalking back into his flat. "Come in, come in, you're letting the heat out."

As Watanuki went back into his bedroom to change he noticed the butterfly was gone.

* * *

The rest of the day felt like the film Nightmare on Elm Street. Watanuki struggled hard to remain awake through his classes and lunch, taking any moment of silence to pillow his head in his arms and close his eyes against the uncomfortable daylight. He almost found himself nodding off on Doumeki's shoulder much to his horror. The moment was made all the more awkward by Doumeki's deadpan comment of "I don't mind." Cho had been lurking about, Doumeki noticed. Whenever he happened to catch a glimpse of him Doumeki did his best to steer Watanuki in the opposite direction. Watanuki was so woozy and out of it that it wasn't a hard task to maneuver him around the school.

They couldn't avoid Cho forever it seemed. Even after waiting until everyone had cleared the campus after last bell, Watanuki, Doumeki and Himawari found him waiting for them by the gates. They stopped about fifteen feet from where he stood surrounded by a haze of Monarch butterflies.

Doumeki moved to stand in front of Watanuki, blocking him with a protective arm. A deep glare cut harsh shadows in his face. He remembered that this had all started after Watanuki had seen that spirit butterfly. Seeing Cho surrounded by a tiny orange horde of them confirmed his suspicions: Cho was the one influencing Watanuki.

He faced the trio with his amber eyes blazing. Watanuki peeked over Doumeki's broad shoulders, confused by the sudden protective gesture and when his eyes met Cho's he felt himself become seized by an intense spiritual force which totally overcame his senses.

Watanuki sought out Doumeki's sleeve as he felt himself suddenly losing strength.

"...Dou...me...ki..." he moaned.

There was no fighting this. The spiritual power was much too strong for him to resist. He succumbed to sleep almost immediately.

Doumeki felt the seer's hand slip from his sleeve and turned just in time to see him tipping backwards.

A soft sigh of defeat escaped Watanuki's lips as he was caught by Doumeki, as if he were relinquishing himself over to the hands of whoever desired him most.

"Watanuki!"

"Watanuki-Kun!"

Doumeki shook him but was not surprised by the lack of response. He was too consumed by anger at letting this happen.

_Even standing right beside him I was useless..._

Cho strode up to them wearing a hungry sneer.

"It seems he is ready."

Doumeki barely contained a snarl, and shifted Watanuki over into the hands of Himawari. He stood and rounded on Cho, fisting a hand in his collar.

"Bastard...ready for what? What have you done to him?"

Cho just kept smiling and looking down on Doumeki. Incensed by this Doumeki brought back his free fist to punch Cho square in the jaw. Just as he was about to drive his knuckles home Himawari piped up.

"Doumeki-Kun, we should take him to the Infirmary." she said, trying to diffuse the violent atmosphere, oblivious to Doumeki's plight.

Doumeki reluctantly releases Cho's throat and stepped back.

"Get out of here." he ordered.

Cho smiled, "It's been nice knowing you Doumeki-Kun." he said before he disappeared in a torrent of butterflies.

Doumeki returned to Watanuki's side and with Himawari's help the two were able to pull Watanuki onto his back. He shrugged the seer up into a comfortable and easily to carry position so that Watanuki's head hung over his shoulder. Their cheeks were almost touching.

A black swallowtail butterfly suddenly flitted about in front of Doumeki's face and he snatched at it aggressively.

The edges of the creature glowed and a familiar voice came from the pulsing light. "Doumeki-Kun, please bring Watanuki to the Shop."

"Yuuko?"

"Of course."

* * *

Himawari had needed to return home much to her dismay but Doumeki had assured her he would look after Watanuki.

He was almost at the shop when a quiet voice breathed hot air onto his neck.

"Dou...me...ki..."

Doumeki stopped jogging and waited patiently for Watanuki to continue.

His eyes were cloudy, like a snake's before they shed their skin.

"...I...should have...listened...to you..," he mumbled. "...C-Cho...he's a..."

"I know." Doumeki said. "I'm taking you to Yuuko's."

"She's going to make me pay big time for this one." Watanuki smiled knowingly before sighing and fainting softly against Doumeki's cheek again.

Doumeki bowed his head in reserved acquiescence before he took off again jogging quicker than before towards Yuuko's shop.

_Don't worry. I'll protect you. I promised myself I would never let you come to any harm._

He recited stubbornly inside his head.


	4. Chapter 4

_"Metamorphosis"_

When Doumeki arrived at the shop Yuuko was waiting for him.

"In here."

She motioned with one long ivory finger to a doorway off from the hall. Doumeki followed the soft shift of her kimono across the hard wood floor and into a wide room where a futon was prepared. An apple-white kimono was folded neatly beside it. Doumeki eased the slumbering Watanuki down onto the sheets without a word. He tenderly pressed a hand to the seer's forehead, pushing aside some stray black bangs.

"He won't wake," Yuuko cut short the tender moment with her usual husky, cryptic exposé. "at least not until it's too late."

Doumeki looked to her in his usual silent way, but his eyes held a grieving bid for explanation.

"Come," She beckoned him from the room with a wave of her deep red kimono sleeve which was patterned by gigantic flowers. "Maro, Moro, see to Watanuki's clothes."

The twin girls bounded past Doumeki as he left the room and followed Yuuko to the decking which framed the entire shop. The two sat side by side and Mokona brought a bottle of sake and two shot glasses for them to ease their anxieties.

There was a weighted pause as Yuuko held back her sleeve to pour the sake, and Doumeki clenched his fists on his knees as his patience reached the end of its tether. Just as he felt the atmosphere were about to smother him Yuuko spoke.

"Watanuki has been chosen to be the new patron deity of butterflies."

Of all the things, Doumeki expected that the least.

"A Monarch's life span is exceedingly short, and their reign is under constant threat by other spirits. Kings are lost regularly and more often than not to the jaws of spider deities. To protect their domain in the absence of a patron deity a highly valued kinsman will possess a spiritually gifted human. I'm sure I don't need to tell you the uniqueness of Watanuki's existence, and it's value to spirits. The boy who has been following Watanuki at school is such a kinsman, and he could not help himself when he came across our Watanuki. He couldn't over look such a splendid candidate. "

"So what will happen to Watanuki now?" Doumeki asked tepidly.

Yuuko's expression grew dark and her voice plunged a few octaves. "He will sleep until the possession is complete, then he will vanish to the spirit world and take up the thrown until he is devoured or dies."

Doumeki's eyes widened in horror and his lips parted as a breath left him.

"Before you say it," Yuuko added quickly. "nothing can be done until the process is complete and even then ...you will not like the price."

"I will pay any-!"

Yuuko held up her hand to quell his sudden burst of desperation. "It is not something that can be decided now. Go home and rest. The process does not take long, you will be back here before first light tomorrow."

The ominous premonition quieted Doumeki, if only because it filled his head with too much anxiety and frustration to articulate.

He did return home, feet heavy with reluctance, but not without a last lingering look at Watanuki lying asleep in the late afternoon sunlight.

_I will not fail again. I promise. I'm going to save you, Watanuki..._

* * *

Watanuki woke to find that he was wearing a loose, apple-white kimono which showed a generous V of flesh from his throat to just above his navel. His glasses were missing and he relied solely on the fuzzy natural vision of his heterochromia to guide the way. Not that there was much to see; he was walking aimlessly through a black expanse of space.

He threw his voice out into the darkness. "Hello? Is anybody there?" Then quieter, more intimately, he whispered:"Doumeki...?"

_"Watanuki Kimihiro."_

A sudden voice from behind made him start, and Watanuki whirled around to see Cho standing before him in a grand silk kimono adorned with various patterns and jewels. He looked regal.

"Cho?" Watanuki crinkled his features in confusion. "What is going on? Where am I?"

Cho smiled and shrugged, the tiny baubles on his bracelets and necklaces clinking together like marbles.

"I put you to sleep." he said. "You are dreaming."

Suddenly Cho was on top of him and Watanuki was flat on his back on the cool obsidian floor.

"And what a good dream it is." Cho sneered, voice velvety with pleasure.

Cho's hands were holding down his wrists but even so Watanuki struggled. "S-Stop! Let me go!"

"Aah-hah-_ha~_"

Cho released Watanuki's wrists but they remained suctioned to the floor by an invisible force, a pressure which locked his entire body to the surface of this nameless dreamscape.

"You would not fight if you knew what you are about to become. Accept it. My hands will guide you."

Cho placed his fingers within the folds of Watanuki's kimono and slid the fabric open in one smooth motion like parting waves. The flat of Cho's palms rubbed over the pink peaks of his nipples, sending a soft and terrible tremor down Watanuki's spine.

"W-Wait, what are you d-doing?" he gasped.

Cho continued to ease the immobile Watanuki out of his kimono, baring his shoulders and back to the cool obsidian floor. He flattened the sleeves just above where Watanuki's upturned palms were still suckered to the floor. It was like he was preparing a still life to paint.

Cho regarded the seer's lithe body with a hungry anticipating grin.

Watanuki blushed and closed his eyes against the lusty stare. "D-Don't look at me."

He felt so open now, and vulnerable; half undressed and at the mercy of some lunatic. Was Cho going to touch him again? Watanuki shuddered at the thought.

Cho exhaled and closed his eyes, suddenly pushing his crotch against Watanuki's in a show of released ecstasy. Watanuki gasped, his back arching, while Cho bent forward and let out a breathy groan. Before Watanuki had time to ask _"what the hell was that?"_ Cho ground against him again, throwing back his head as another wave of pleasure stormed through him.

Wings suddenly unfurled from behind Cho on the back of his final thrust. They were huge and orange and shiny with fluid. They scattered dew drops as they flapped themselves dry and stretched. Watanuki stared up in awe beneath the shadow of Cho's wings - he felt as though he were under a stained glass window, with the light behind it. The butterfly wings dyed him a burnt orange and shadowed his face with the streaks of black which segmented their species design. They were beautiful and terrifying.

Cho panted softly, his smile returning. "Are you ready to receive me?"

"W-What?"

Cho placed the palm of his hand in the centre of Watanuki's chest. Below the palm glowed and become hot and Watanuki writhed as a sensation like a hot lance speared him through.

"Nnghh..! ..Ah..Aaah!"

He moaned in agony as a warm dampness began to form between his shoulder blades from where they were pressed into the floor. It felt like he was being emptied of magic; birthing some spiritual pregnancy. The feeling started to make him light headed and became decidedly wetter.

_Am I bleeding?_ He wondered.

Rivulets of dark black liquid seemed to run from under his back along the floor. They followed the shape of his kimono sleeves, eating their way into the fabric and dying it black, scoring it into thin empty panels. This liquid, (his blood?) was drawing the stencil of wings around him.

Watanuki tossed and struggled weakly, "Nooo!" He felt like he were being emptied, sucked dry by many tiny fangs all at once. They spilled him all around in arching lines and jagged splices.

Cho grinned madly, pressing down harder onto Watanuki's chest, flooding him with more of this new energy which was forcing out the old. His own wings forked violently, lashing themselves stiff and turning sharp and shiny like the flat of a blade.

It was then, as Cho's wings started to dissolve, that Watanuki was injected with the most exquisite sensation; orange flesh started to flood the empty spaces of Watanuki's wings - like colourful ink squirted into water. His cries of pain quickly blurred into moans of pleasure as the colour filled the black edges of his new wings to the brim.

Watanuki felt every shade and tinge and shadow of his new wings being made. They cooked, almost; the hues became deeper - solar yellow, pumpkin orange, blood red, lined in bible black. He was on a hot plate and his back was sizzling.

Cho curled forward as what remained of his wings sagged like melted plastic. Colour ran from the tips, dotting Watanuki's new wings with points of heat. Cho was feeding him colour; Watanuki realised. He knew what was happening now. This was an exchange of power. Cho was turning him into something. Whatever he had been plotting he was about to get away with it...

Still, Watanuki couldn't summon the will to protest. His face was flushed, and his kimono in disarray showed the entirety of his spread thighs. The black liquid and pulpy orange flesh of his new wings were staining the underside of his arms from where they were thrown above his head, and he lay gasping passionately in the clutches of some other worldly equivalent of a sexual orgasm. His only thought was _God, I hope it never ends...!_

As the last of Cho's wings dripped down his shoulders he left out a satisfied sigh and sat up on his knees. Tracing a finger across Watanuki's bottom lip as he panted in receding ecstasy, Cho pressed his other hand to the black choker around his neck and it unfastened with a soft click.

"Your coronation is complete," Cho said huskily, "now here is your crown."

He locked the black choker around Watanuki's throat and it immediately shocked him back to his senses. His hands, now released, flew to the choker in horror and pain as it sent a violent current of electricity through him. "Aaah! It hurts-! Take it off! Ah!"

"There is no going back now, Your Majesty."

Cho grinned and his body started to glow. His shape shrunk and he turned back into a small ethereal orange butterfly, leaving Watanuki to cry and pull against the black obsidian floor as it turned to tar beneath him and began to consume his body.

"_Somebody, help me!"_ Watanuki howled as he sunk deeper into the darkness, thrashing and reaching a grasping desperate hand above him into the obsidian sky.** "_Doumeki!_"**

* * *

**"_Watanuki!"_**

Doumeki awoke with a start, drenched in cold sweat. He sat up, gasping, and felt rivulets drip down between his shoulders. Clutching his head, Doumeki was assaulted by a migraine of acute spiritual pain. He groaned as the sudden pain subsided gradually and staggered to his feet in search of clothes.

As he sprinted out into the courtyard of the temple he glanced up at the low moon. It must be around 4am. Yuuko's voice resounded in his mind.

"_You will be back here before first light tomorrow."_

"That Witch." Doumeki growled under his breath as he sped up to a run.

* * *

When Doumeki reached the shop he didn't bother with pleasantries. Not announcing himself and leaving his shoes on, he burst through the front doors and made a b-line for Watanuki's room. He nearly fell through the door frame, slamming a palm down on the light switch and hanging there, panting, staring into the now illuminated room.

Watanuki was sitting up in his futon. His bi-colour eyes seemed heavy and misty as his gaze slid slowly to Doumeki, who was walking over to him. He crouched down next to the seer, watching him with fearful anticipation. The apple-white kimono Maro and Moro had changed him into had fallen down around his elbows, exposing his back to Doumeki's stunned eyes.

Butterfly wings were folded against his body. The colours were so bombastic against the white paleness of his naked flesh and Doumeki reached out to gingerly stroke a hand down the folded wings. They were soft and warm and damp. New. Alive. He quickly withdrew his hand.

Yuuko appeared in the doorway, hair down and wrapped in a cool blue yukata. She observed silently as always, and Doumeki glanced at her in a plea to do something, or tell him what to do. She said nothing. Beside him, Watanuki's form shivered and Doumeki watched in horror as the slats of the blinds behind the seer slowly became visible.

Watanuki was vanishing.

As if it was instinctual, Doumeki reached out to touch him again only to find his hand go straight through. Watanuki's previously dull eyes lit up in fear as he noticed the translucency of his body. He let out a small noise of terror before wrapping his arms around himself in frantic denial. He looked from Doumeki to Yuuko in turn, searching their faces for any understanding of his situation. On Yuuko's face he found only cold reserve.

"Yuuko-San..." he bleated mournfully, before a rush of agony enraptured him. Watanuki let out a juicy yelp of pain as his wings suddenly opened, spreading out in one swift impressive motion. Doumeki was pushed back by the force of the wing beat, the gush of air throwing him down in front of Yuuko.

Watanuki curled forward in pain as his wings thrashed and blood began to pump through the tiny thread-thick veins. He crawled forward on his stomach and reached out with tears streaming down his face, like a child to their mother. "Help me! Yuuko-San!"

Yuuko bowed her head - in Watanuki's eyes, she was condemning him to his fate.

With that last ounce of fight snuffed out of him Watanuki disappeared entirely, leaving Doumeki and Yuuko alone in the room.


	5. Chapter 5

_"A High Price"_

As he stared at the empty futon Doumeki felt a hand lightly grasp his shoulder. It was tentative, apologetic, but with just enough force to encourage him back to reality. He turned. It was Yuuko.

"He asked you to help him. He begged you." Doumeki's voice was dangerously low.

"I know," she bowed her head. "but there is nothing I can do. It's up to you, Doumeki-Kun. Will you go?"

Doumeki nodded. In his mind there was nothing he wouldn't do for Watanuki, but as was the cruel way with wishes, sometimes what you need to pay demands far more of you than blood.

"You must separate the butterfly spirit from Watanuki. Even if he seems like himself so long as he displays those wings the spirit still has power over his soul."

Yuuko pulled five huge and beautiful pins from the sleeve of her yukata, and she handed them to Doumeki with a weight that told him everything he needed to know. He met her eyes with abject horror.

"I cannot promise that he will forgive you." she said.

He could only continue to stare at her.

"I warned you that the price would be high."

"But-"

"This is also Watanuki's compensation for not listening to you."

Doumeki gripped the pins and squeezed his eyes shut, fists shaking.

"I don't care about that."

"This is how it must be. This is the only appropriate compensation for the both of you."

Doumeki's expression settled into a quietly boiling glare.

"Tell me what to do."

Yuuko smiled. "You must go butterfly hunting."

* * *

Yuuko gave Doumeki a pouch of sparkling powder which she informed him would attract butterfly spirits. He returned to the temple as the sun rose finding that his parents had thankfully already left for work. He sighed in relief, and went to fetch his bow. After changing into his archer's garb, Doumeki strode out into the grounds of the temple with the power Yuuko had given him. His brows were drawn together tensely and the grip on his bow was white-knuckle tight.

He felt the tips of the pins lightly push into his thigh from where they were secured in the waist of his trousers, hidden from sight by the large white wrap around his chest and torso.

_I hope I can do this..._

Doumeki tore open the pouch and scattered the glittering substance across the garden and much to his surprise it didn't take long to entice some small glowing butterfly spirits.

Doumeki is the last person you would find injuring animals just for the sake of it, but with Watanuki on the line he raised his bow without hesitation and began to shoot. His spiritual arrows tore through the dainty wings of the monarchs scattering them in colourful shreds to the ground.

_Hear this, Watanuki. Don't ignore me. _

* * *

In a parallel plain the new King of Butterflies sat on a thrown of blackened, twisting sakura roots. The realm was bright and damp, it was like living in a transparent cocoon, the sweltering air was thick with the smell of nature. Watanuki was busy fanning himself, his kimono open down to his waist, as he adjusted to the new heavy and spiritual atmosphere.

A small glowing butterfly flitted across the expanse to Watanuki and he held out a finger for it to land on.

The butterfly fanned its wings slowly and with purpose, it's tongue curling and unfurling in quick rhythms.

"I see." Watanuki mused as the butterfly lifted off his fingers and flitted around before his eyes in a panic. "Don't worry," he soothed, brushing the back of his finger across one soft papery wing of the little butterfly.

He stood, his own wings looming like massive spiny shadows behind him. He cast out his arm like a King passing a decree, his fingers spread wide before curling into a grasping fist.

"Bring him to me!" he ordered. "Bring me the human who dares attack my kinsmen!"


	6. Chapter 6

_"Ravishment"_

Watanuki languidly reclined in the seat of his earthy throne. With his kiseru pipe in hand he resembled Yuuko so wholly in that moment it was as if it had always been so. Plumes of blue smoke and strings of dusky pink incense intermingled in the closed space of his domain; smoke and heat like that would make anyone languid. Sweat rolled down his body in cooling trickles. The place was an incubator. Small butterflies of every sort hovered around in groups like little bursts of living colour.

Still, despite his apparent apathy, Watanuki sensed the hackles of his spiritual plain rise and tremble as someone entered his kingdom. An enemy. A threat.

Darkness spread across everything like spilt ink and the butterflies surrounding Watanuki scattered. He sighed, setting the kiseru down and gathering up the many colourful layers of his grand kimono.

"Right on time." he muttered, standing and gliding down the few steps from his throne to meet the darkness as it engulfed his world.

Since becoming the Monarch, Watanuki's mind had been blown open to the possibilities and capabilities of his previously repressed spiritual power. He was intimately connected to every one of his kinsmen, acutely aware of the fluxes in his particular veil and with all that knowledge and awareness came a sense of calm and control.

The stabbing click of high heels echoed out from the shadows and from it emerged Jorugumo: The Spider Queen.

"We meet again," she purred, voice sweet and heavy. "though not under expected circumstances."

"Indeed." Watanuki smiled and greeted her. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"What else?" She pursed her juicy red lips into a childish pout. "I am here to slake my thirst for butterfly blood."

"Of course." Watanuki smiled apologetically. "I'm afraid it doesn't sound like much fun for me though."

She regarded him warily, in her memory Watanuki was passionate and weak not cool and coy.

"You're not cute anymore." she observed, her eyes narrowing into predatory slits.

"How mean." Watanuki grimaced.

There came a ripping sound as several sets of spiny legs erupted from Jorogumo's back. Then she pounced, pinning Watanuki to the floor. Her eyes were mad black pits and fangs rested in the full flesh of her lips. She hissed as her mouth opened in hunger, regarding the trapped butterfly beneath her.

She used one of her spiny legs to scrape a point down his hind wings.

"Did you know," she cooed. "male monarchs have a black spot on each of their hind wings which hides a vein..."

Watanuki tensed as the point of her needle like leg rested on the vulnerable bump of vein.

"If you move, I will burst it and you will die very quickly."

Watanuki stared up at her with an unreadable expression.

"This is the natural order of things." she said, hands sliding across Watanuki's bare torso. He didn't struggle though, merely stared up at her unaffected. "The last Monarch begged me to spare him, what will you do?"

"I haven't decided yet." Watanuki smiled, his bi-colour eyes glinting mischievously.

Unnerved by his attitude Jorogumo lowered her voluptuous body down onto the svelte seer, bringing her mouth down to kiss at his neck and chest. Her lips were velveteen and talented, the threat of her fangs were exciting.

Watanuki let out a soft moan. "This...This is more fun for me..."

Jorogumo spread wide his already loose kimono and grasped his flesh with her hungry clawed hands. She explored him more with her mouth, licking and sucking, teasing and biting. She came for blood but Watanuki's flesh was almost as delicious. His skin was dewy and sweet, it blushed under her tongue and became hot around her fangs.

Watanuki threw back his head and let out a long and erotic moan. No fear was present in his pleasure drenched expression to suggest he were at all opposed to being eaten.

"_Aaahh...!_"

His hand reached out, grasping around in the darkness.

Jorogumo's expression became more animalistic and monstrous, she hissed and her fangs grew sharp and her pupils dilated. Unable to deny herself a meal any longer, she was about to take her first bite of tender butterfly flesh...

Watanuki's travelling hand sought out what he wanted. He grasped a prickly vine and pulled sharply. From the ground around him huge spikes shot up to skewer the body of Jorogumo.

She lurched, immobilised in horror at the many thorny intrusions to her body.

"...I-Impossible...!"

Watanuki smiled up at her, quietly evil.

Blood was slowly trickling down from the spikes impaling Jorogumo. She could only stare blankly as they pushed through her more, raising her high enough above the seer for him to extract himself from beneath her. As soon as he was free the spikes retracted back into the ground and left Jorogumo in a bloody heap on the floor.

"_Tch'!_ What a mess." Watanuki commented.

More footsteps came from the receding darkness as Doumeki emerged, guarded by two sets of bright flapping butterflies. He had witnessed most of the risqué performance and stood with his eyes wide open and his jaw slack with horror.

This was not the Watanuki he knew.

He stood and watched with apprehension as the King of Butterflies approached, grinning, corrupt, and powerful.

He was dressed extravagantly in an orange kimono which was whorled and scored with intricate black designs, moons and stars, spikes and spires. A second, thinner, astonishingly white kimono was peaking out from under it. His piercing blue and yellow eyes were half hidden behind half moon glasses which has some tiny jewels hanging from them, beads of citron, obsidian, and amber.

And of course his huge butterfly wings bearing the Monarch pattern loomed behind him like four huge fans. They made his shape imposing and glorious. A true Monarch, a beautiful King.

Some of Jorogumo's blood had flicked onto his face as she was impaled, and coyly Watanuki took it with his thumb and licked it clean...it was then Doumeki noticed the black ring wrapped tightly around Watanuki's throat.

"Happy Halloween, Doumeki-Kun." said Watanuki, his mouth splitting into a devilish smirk. "Care to play?"


	7. Chapter 7

_"Betrayal" _

Doumeki stared wordlessly at the King of Butterflies. From this close he could smell the earthy musk of Watanuki's body, undercut with the fruity sweetness that came from being surrounded by flowers and nectar all day long. It soaked into Doumeki's muscles as his grip tightened around the pins. He swallowed hard, banishing the notion that Watanuki was incredibly appealing right now. He didn't need much reminding that he had just watched his friend kill another spirit after all, but damn that smell, and Watanuki's loose, low kimono did all kinds of things to distract Doumeki's concentration.

It was Watanuki who broke the silence. He noticed their quite obvious height different and growled.

"I won't have you looking down on me," he said, glaring flatly at Doumeki, who didn't know how to interpret that look any more than if he were before a real Monarch.

Watanuki waited expectantly, patience clearly draining from his expression with every second Doumeki failed to get the hint, until he felt that he was given no choice but to raise his voice to an intimidating roar.

**_"Kneel!"_**

Fright jumped in Doumeki's shoulders, and he found himself following the order immediately, dropping to the ground and bowing his head.

"That's better." Watanuki raised a leg and hooked his foot under Doumeki's chin, lifting his face. "Now, kiss my feet."

Doumeki blinked in a "are you serious?" kind of way.

"Watanu-_guh!"_

Watanuki pushed his toes into Doumeki's Adams apple. "I said...Kiss. My. Feet."

Doumeki obliged, if only to buy himself time to form some kind of plan. He slid his hand along the side of Watanuki's foot, gripping his ankle lightly as he pressed his lips against the arch. Watanuki's skin tasted as sweet as it smelled.

"Do you know what the punishment is for killing one of my butterflies? I assure you it is much worse than a spider's curse."

"Watanuki." Doumeki followed the long white leg of the seer up to meet his eyes, "You're possessed, you don't know what you're doing."

"I didn't say stop." Watanuki's smile only widened and became more amused and he lifted Doumeki's head higher with the top of his foot. Doumeki had no choice but to oblige. He kissed this time with his tongue, trailing hot wetness across Watanuki's foot. He felt the Monarch shiver, and inhaled thickly.

This was supposed to be a punishment, right?

"I don't know what you're taking about. I am King here. My whole life I've been King." Watanuki said empirically.

"Maybe your whole life as a butterfly...If you have always been King and lived here then how do you remember who I am?"

Watanuki's fine black eyebrows drew together like tipping bridges. "What-What do you mean? You're Doumeki. You are-"

"Who am I?" Doumeki cut back. "Where do you know me from? How did we meet? What is our relationship?"

"I..I don't know." Watanuki stammered as Doumeki wrapped his tongue around the King's toes. "All I know is I am filled with annoyance when I look at you."

Doumeki pushed out a laugh. "Of course."

Watanuki yanked his foot away and stood squarely before the archer.

"Explain."

"We know each other from school. If you have always been here then how do you know me if you haven't been to school?" Doumeki continued. "You've been possessed. That black choker around your neck is proof of it."

Watanuki's hand went to his throat. "That's impossible. I'm-I'm...!"

Doumeki took out his bow, raising it to eye level. A golden spiritual arrow formed as Doumeki pulled the bowstring back to his cheek. Was he really going to do this? Shoot Watanuki? What if he missed? What if he hurt him?

"What are you doing? Wait-!"

...He was going to have to hurt him a lot more in a moment...

Doumeki fired. His arrow cut through the air faster than Watanuki could react, and it hit its target dead on: the centre of the black choker around his neck.

It shattered like glass and tiny shards of obsidian clinked to the ground. Doumeki wasted no time. He discarded his bow and ran at Watanuki, taking him by the shoulders and pinning him to the floor. He had to be quick about this...or else...

Still stunned from the hit Watanuki groaned and moved slowly beneath Doumeki, as the archer pulled the four beautiful pins from his belt. A bead of sweat rolled down his face and his heart was in his throat making it very difficult to breathe or swallow. He picked up the first pin, grasping it just before the blue jewelled head like the hilt of a sword, and raised it high above his head.

Watanuki's bi-colour eyes blinked open and focused just in time to see Doumeki driving the first pin into his upturned palm. The horror and sheer disbelief that flashed across his face was nearly enough to halt Doumeki's plummeting hand. But not quite. He bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut, and drove the point of the pin deep into the soft flesh of Watanuki's palm, right through to the obsidian floor beneath them.

_**"AAAAHHH!"**_

Watanuki wailed in the most acute agony as the metal point pushed through his skin, through muscle, blood, and bones, and became wedged in the floor.

"Dou-Doumeki! What...! Why? It hurts! It hurts-! Take it out! Have you gone insane?"

Watanuki's hand throbbed in strong dark pulses with pain as blood readily bubbled out from the wound.

Doumeki's expression was strained and shadowed. He reached for the second pin.

Watanuki felt another rush of fear. "Oi, stop. Doumeki, no." He gripped Doumeki's sleeve with his free hand. "Don't-"

Doumeki seized his wrist and held his hand down against the floor, palm up. He appeared to be trembling, but never the less he raised the next pin in his free hand. The long thin shadow of it fell across Watanuki's face.

He stared up in rising horror. "Doumeki, stop. No! Please! Doumeki, stop it!"

Doumeki ground his teeth, knuckles white and eyes hidden. Then he drove the second pin down.

_**"NOOOOO!"**_

As the pin hit the floor the resounding crack of it imbedding itself in the shiny rock was drowned out by Watanuki's scream.

Doumeki let out the breath he was holding, his shaking hands released the pin newly imbedded in Watanuki's palm like it had suddenly become hot and hunched over the seer's body like he had lost all strength.

"P-Please. Please stop. P-Please..." Watanuki's voice was hoarse and broken by tears. His hands, skewered by the pins were shining ruby red in the light. The blood was spilling out and staining his wings.

Doumeki stood shakily and Watanuki lifted his head to watch as the archer moved to sit by his feet. Watanuki let his head fall back against the floor. "Doumeki...!" He pleaded, knowing that his ordeal was far from over.

"I'm sorry." Doumeki mumbled, grasping the third pin and lining it up with Watanuki's recently kissed foot. He drove it home and Watanuki howled in agony again, his one free limb kicking and lashing out in protest.

As the echo of his pain died out Doumeki readied the final pin, gripping Watanuki's ankle and stretching his leg straight. The seer was too weak to fight. Watanuki's chest was heaving with strain, his face was shining with tears and blood was eating its way through his kimono. His wings were rapidly losing their vibrancy.

Doumeki positioned the point of the last pin on Watanuki's foot.

"Doumeki...Doumeki, I hate you." Watanuki spoke in weakening panting breaths. "I really..." his eyes fell shut. _"...hate you."_

Cursing himself a thousand times over, Doumeki pushed the final pin through Watanuki's foot.

* * *

"My, my, what a sight."

Yuuko and Mokono stood in the corridor before the hollow of the door. Doumeki stood backed by the cool evening light, panting, robe disheveled, hair a mess and with a face contorted in repressed rage. Watanuki hung in his arms, patches of blood staining his pale skin and apple-white kimono.

"I did it. I paid the price!" Doumeki's voice was cracking. "Now save him!"

* * *

_**Hey guys, if anyone is interested I've complied a playlist for this story! (as I tend to do, I get a lot of inspiration from music) I can't link it but here's a list of the songs corresponding to each chapter, they are all on Youtube so if you like this story check them out! Only two more chapters to go! Ja ne~**_

**Monarch Playlist**

01 - Saw Something - David Gahan

02 - Trouble - Midnight Red (Taylor Swift cover)

03 - Spellbound - Lacuna Coil

04 - Evil Angel - Breaking Benjamin

05 - Grenade - Bruno Mars

06 - You Wanna Touch Me - KAZAKY (watch the video omg so hot)

07 - Cursive Eye - I:Scintilla

08 - Apologize - Timberland

09 - What I Want - Chris Daughtry ft. Slash


	8. Chapter 8

"_Resentment" _

It was a week before Watanuki came back to school.

And he was very different than before.

He put on his usual rosy and inflated excitement around Himawari when he was with her, but whenever he was alone - in class or between lessons - the seer was surrounded by an air of thick, black resentment. No one dared ask him about the bandages covering his hands, or why he was hobbled as though walking on knives. Everyone kept their distance.

His aura might have been gloomy but now Watanuki was a veritable _stormcloud_ of emotions.

On the few occasions he had spotted Doumeki he quickly turned on his heel and went in the opposite direction. Doumeki let him. Silently, he also turned around and walked away. The space between them grew long, each stride pulling their previous relationship taught. Both knew it would snap soon, but Watanuki couldn't find it in his mortified heart to forgive Doumeki, and Doumeki understood completely. So he stayed away, even though it grieved him sore.

"He's really suffering, Watanuki-Kun." Himawari said softly, carefully. "Couldn't you talk to him?"

His eyes filled up at the memory of Doumeki looming over him, of the first pin being driven through his hand, of his agonised cries and pleads to stop, and of feeling utterly, utterly powerless.

Watanuki clenched his teeth. "He has _no idea_ about suffering."

* * *

At archery practise Doumeki pulled back his arrow. The feathers grazed his cheek and he held it there, vision narrowing so all he could see was the target.

_Hold - Focus - Aim_

A sudden image of Watanuki replaced the target before him.

_No!_

Doumeki released the arrow in surprise. It hit Watanuki in the throat, shattering the black choker around his neck with a piercing smash.

The recoil of the bowstring whipped back and struck Doumeki on the face, leaving a curving laceration on his cheek.

When he regained his senses the cruel memory was gone.

"Doumeki-San! Are you alright?" Another archer came to him in worry.

Doumeki began to tremble and covered his face with his hand. Blood smeared across his skin. "I'm fine." he said somewhat shakily. "Just caught me on the recoil."

"Are you sure? I can get the first aid kit-"

"No, I'm fine. That won't be necessary. I'm not that badly hurt, I'm not...that badly..." His voice was shaking too much to finish. He turned his back on the boy and bowed his head, reeling, and suddenly overcome.

His eyes were hot. There was water on his hands. _Watanuki..._


End file.
